Take the Time
by i.anachronism
Summary: Surreal. Replay. Sarah gets drunk and wishes her brother away. Again. Difference? You'll just have to read to find out.


**Disclaimer: **I do not in any way, shape or form claim that I own the Labyrinth, because I don't.

**A/N: **Love makes me depressed. Hence this. Read. Review if you have the time (can I tempt you with your dreams?). Enjoy.

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Sarah Williams was drinking. It was a vile habit really, destroyed her father after her step-mother had passed, but here she was, an empty bottle of rich Chardonnay in one hand and a full bottle Pinot Grigio in the other. With a glazed look in her eyes she slowly, mechanically opened the other bottle of wine. Looking out over the rails of the porch she was standing on, she laughed at the sunset, mocking it. The door behind her and to her left opened with a creak and she turned her head unnaturally to look at her 14 year old brother Toby.

"Hey Tobes," she slurred, a broken smile on her pale face. Her gray eyes stared at him lifelessly. And her thin wrists looked as though they would break under the pressure of the bottles.

"Come on Sarah, let's get you inside," he said gently, picking up her frail form. A bubbly laugh emptied her mouth, sounding hollow.

"Let's dance Toby." She jumped with a supernatural grace from his arms and flowingly began to dance in childish innocence on the porch. Bathed in the glow of the setting sun, Sarah Williams looked as though she was nothing more than a sad dream. The light hit her lifeless black hair, showing the bluish highlights. Her eyes closed, and she raised her face as her hands erratically pushed through the air. She looked at Toby seriously.

"Do you ever miss it?" She asked spinning to a sitting position. He looked at her curiously.

"Do I ever miss what?"

"Why the Labyrinth," she admonished with a disproving giggle. "It was beautiful Toby. Do you ever wish I hadn't saved you?"

Toby shook his head, turning away from her so she couldn't see his tears. She got up, defying all gravitational laws. She stepped towards him with an agility that a person who was intoxicated should not possess. She gathered him in her arms, rocking him and humming a forgotten melody.

"_Dance magic dance_," she whispered in his ear and he stiffened in recognition. A haunting male voice entered both of their heads. Toby hit the floor, gasping as pain exploded in the form of a headache. Sarah stood, trancelike, and swayed with the wind.

"Jareth," she said breathless. She hit the floor and laughed softly. "Oh goblin king, if you truly loved me you would come for me."

And she cried.

Toby watched his sister, unable to move. His soft brown eyes widened as she rocked back and forth in a sitting position. Her renaissance dress crinkling softly as it moved against the wood rhythmically. She slowly got up, her strength shining through her insanity. She looked at Toby intensely.

"I wish the goblins would come and take you away," she said.

"Sarah," Toby warned.

Without missing a beat, "Right now," she said.

She felt the familiar wind, and saw a pair of mismatched eyes surveying her coldly.

"I take it you didn't learn the first time," Jareth said coldly. "However, I cannot take your brother again Sarah. You are only a shadow of your former self darling." He moved to pull her against him. She looked at him and something inside her snapped into place. Roughly she pushed him away.

"I asked for something Jareth, and I fully expect you to give it to me."

"Life isn't always fair."

She glared.

"Remind you of someone?" he said nonchalantly, standing regally. She raised herself to full height and looked at him with fire in his eyes.

"It's not fair to use my own phrases against me," she said defiantly.

"Now there's the girl I remember."

He reached out to grab her and in a one second shift she found herself in a setting she both knew, and did not know. The land was desolate, only reminiscent of what she remembered.

"You know the rules Sarah Williams. You will find it much harder this time around, however."

The thin woman glared at him as he started fading.

"I look forward to it."

And she set off.

Sarah Williams glanced at the clock, 5 minutes away from 13 o'clock. She raced up the stairs to the ruins of the Escher room.

"Sarah, beware, I have been generous up until now, but I can be cruel."

"Generous?" she laughed. "What have you done that is generous?"

"Everything," Jareth roared. "Everything that you wanted I have given you. You asked the boy be taken and I took him. You cowered before me, I _was _frightening. I have reordered time, I have turned the world upside down, and I have done it _all _for _you._"

She looked at him, mirth dancing in her now lively gray eyes. He threw his hands up in desperation.

"I am exhausted from living up to your expectations of me. Isn't that generous?"

Sarah laughed cruelly and stared him in the eye. Her dress seemed to contour to her curves easier, and her pale skin seemed to glow with a healthy pink glow.

"Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the goblin city, for my will is as strong as yours and my—."

"Stop. Please wait. Look what I'm offering you Sarah, your dreams."

"Did you ever really love me Jareth, or was I just another one of your sick games?" Sarah asked seriously looking him in the eye. He faltered.

"You are my queen."

"And my kingdom is great."

"I ask for so little. Just let me rule you and you can have everything you ever wanted. Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave."

"That's contradictory isn't it Jareth?" she asked with malice. "How can I allow you to be the dominant one if you are the 'slave'?"

Jareth picked up her thin wrist and softly kissed her hand.

"It is possible."

"I have only one thing left to say, I could break you all over again," Sarah warned. Jareth nodded.

"But you won't."

Sarah smirked.

"You have no power over me."

The world descended and Sarah felt herself being pulled down by gravity. She landed on her porch with a dull thud. Toby looked at her frightened.

"Sarah, wait," he said. "Don't say the words."

She stopped. "I'm sorry Tobes," she said in defeat before she tumbled into darkness.

Sarah Williams was drinking. She thought it was a vile habit, but sometimes it was easier to kill yourself glass by glass, bottle by bottle rather then accept the fact that you were already dead.

Sarah Williams was drinking.

And the Labyrinth crumbled beneath her pale, graceful feet.


End file.
